There was a telling development in the scandal over Ireland’s ‘bad bank’
this week as the Dublin government attempted to derail a parliamentary
committee’s investigation by releasing a sheaf of documents on the eve
of a public meeting of the panel.

The 26 County’s Department of Finance released 41 documents to the
Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in a clear effort to further implicate
Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness in the affair and detract from the actions
of Minister for Finance Michael Noonan.

Noonan (pictured, right) is being strongly linked to the sale by NAMA, the National Asset
Management Agency, of property portfolios at billions of euro less than
their real market value.

The issue has already become a highly damaging issue for the coalition
government in the forthcoming general election, which must be held by
the coming Spring.

Minister Noonan is reported to be keen to bring forward the date of the
election to as soon as next month -- crucially, before reports of state
auditors emerge which could expose the scale of the funds lost by NAMA.

At this week’s PAC meeting, chairman John McGuinness said the release of
documentation by the Department of Finance at 9pm on Wednesday night was
“nothing short of interfering with the work of the committee”.
Independent TD Shane Ross said it was a “shocking” decision and designed
to be “politically divisive” and to “provide a distraction” to
proceedings.

The documents revealed that a conference call involving Noonan,
McGuinness and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Peter Robinson had
dealt at length and in detail with the efforts to seal a deal with U.S.
bidder Pimco for the purchase of the northern portfolio, codenamed
‘Project Eagle’.

In the call, Robinson spoke of the “comfort” provided by the commitments
of Pimco if they were the successful acquirer. Pimco withdrew from the
process after allegations of a conflict of interest by a former Nama
advisor who was acting for the company in an advisory capacity.

While no comments by McGuinness were noted in the official record of the
conference call, has cast a new light on his claims that he had been
kept “in the dark” over the meetings and correspondence relating to the
sale of the ‘Project Eagle’ debt portfolio.

The North’s deputy first minister is now seeking to come before the PAC
in an effort to counter allegations being advanced by the DUP and Fine
Gael that he quietly approved of the shady transaction.

Sinn Fein has called on Peter Robinson and party colleague former
minister for finance Sammy Wilson to also travel to Dublin to appear
before PAC members. Robinson has so far refused to appear, but said he
will give oral evidence to the northern Assembly’s finance committee
later this month.

The DUP’s appointment of a barrister, newly-appointed South Belfast
assembly member Emma Pengelly, to join the Stormont finance committee is
seen as a tactical move designed to minimise damage to the DUP as the
party’s representatives face questioning over the Nama controversy.

In the latest developments linked to the sale of Nama’s northern loan
book, it was reported that the reserve price for the portfolio was
reduced by £60m to £1.24bn in April of last year, ensuring that a bid by
vulture fund Cerberus of £1.241bn was successful.

NAMA explained the reduction by saying it related to “asset disposals in
the intervening period between the start of the loan sale and its
closing”.

It had been claimed the sale of the portfolio could have sold for up to
£5 billion.

There are allegations of systematic corruption in the handling of NAMA’s
assets. Gardaí police in the 26 Counties are investigating a claim that
one of its officials took €30,000 in cash from a developer. It is
alleged that the official took two instalments of €15,000 in cash in
exchange for allowing them to get out of the agency’s control.

Wexford TD Mick Wallace has also alleged that a developer complained
“about being approached by fixers who were looking for a backhand in
order for him to buy his loans back at 50p in the pound from Cerberus in
the autumn of ‘13, months before Cerberus even bought it.”

Mr Wallace has demanded that the Dublin government step in to halt the
sale of the 7.2bn euro ‘Project Arrow’ portfolio, involving assets and
loans in the 26 Counties and Britain. Cerberus is widely tipped to
secure the deal.

The US Department of Justice, the FBI, and the US Securities Exchange
Commission have become involved in the investigations.

During a visit to attend an event in New York last week, Sinn Fein
leader Gerry Adams held a meeting with an official from the New York
Comptroller’s Office, which has ties to Cerberus.

Mr Adams said: “Cerberus is involved in the fire-sale of assets, asset
stripping, facility closures, and the loss of jobs, and all of this is
seriously impacting on the local economy.

“The very serious allegations surrounding the sales process of the
northern loan book by Nama to Cerberus and allegations of political
corruption and possible illegal activity are also matters we have
brought to the Comptroller’s attention.”

NAMA chief Frank Daly (pictured, left) has so far refused to appear before the finance
committee of the Stormont Assembly.

Sinn Fein’s Daithi Mr McKay said: “The continued reluctance of NAMA to
appear before the Committee is regrettable and deeply frustrating.”